After years of organizing, the faculty union will finally have a chance to negotiate and agree upon a labor contract with University of The Arts (UArts)President Yager.
March 2nd — Union representatives were granted their first meeting with UArts Presdient David Yager’s administration this week, after filing an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against the University for previously stalling meeting efforts. On Monday, they will meet again to finalize the contract in an effort to secure pay restorations and to stop the exclusion of part-time or managerial faculty.
A great deal of effort brought those involved to this point. See the timeline below for a view of the events leading up to Monday’s meeting.
When UArts faculty overwhelmingly voted to join the union in November, the University responded by hiring legal representation from the notoriously anti-labor firm, Morgan & Lewis. Tensions escalated even further after Yager announced in an email and virtual town hall meeting that administrators and non-union faculty would be receiving a pay raise, but that those who voted to join the union would not. Ever since, faculty morale has been low and the relationship between professors and administration has become more tenuous.
“It’s actions like these”, says UArts professor Laura Frazure, “that make president Yager the best recruiter for our union.” In a virtual interview, Frazure laid out many of the problems and opportunities facing the union in the upcoming days:
On Monday, union representatives hope to seal the demands listed on March 2nd into a solid agreement including pre-pandemic pay rate restorations for all faculty and staff, as well as an agreement allowing part-time faculty and all full-time faculty to be involved in the union.